Tornik
Events
Date of Birth: unknown.
Place of Birth: unknown.
Date of Death: unknown.
Place of Death: unknown.
Relationships
Father: Bagrat Bagratuni.
This relationship is given by Stone and Owens and implied by the PdmZO (see below). Adontz (1934, pp. 731-2) argues that Grigor’s father must have been a son of Bagrat. See the Commentary section below.
Mother: unknown.
Spouse: unknown.
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
Grigor, prince of Taron.
Apoganem, protospatharios, patrician.
Commentary
The PdmZO, following Markwart and Toumanoff, offers this reconstruction for Tornik’s son’s Grigor’s relationships:
Grigor belonged to the Bagratid family and was the son of a certain Derenik/T‘ornik; the nephew of kuropalates Ashot of Taron; the grandson of Bagrat I of Taron; first cousin once removed (Neffe zweiten Grades) of Ashot I of Armenia; first cousin once removed of Smbat I of Armenia; and cousin of Gurgēn I of Taron (859 - ca. 896).
This would make Tornik the son of Bagrat Bagratuni. However, it notes there have been different opinions:
The PdmZO notes that Karlin-Hayter doesn’t think Grigor was a Bagratid, but rather a usurper who took possession of Taron with Arab assistance.
It also notes that Martin-Hisard, more recently, sided with Markwart and Toumanoff.
I haven’t seen Karlin-Hayter’s or Martin-Hisard’s work, but the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogentius referred to Grigor, in his De Administrando Imperio, as a συγγενής of Smbat, prince of princes, which I think implies Grigor was a Bagratid. It is true that Constantine thought Grigor to be playing both sides (the caliph and the emperor), but I don’t see what is wrong with Adontz’s reasoning and evidence.
References
Adontz, N. “Les Taronites a Byzance” in Byzantion v. 9, no. 2 (1934) pp. 715-738, v. 10, no. 2 (1935) pp. 531-551; v. 11, no. 1 (1936), pp. 21-42.
Leidholm, Nathan, Elite Byzantine Kinship, ca. 950-1204: Blood, Reputation, and the Genos. (ARC Humanities Press, 2019).
Lilie, Ralph-Johannes, Claudia Ludwig, Beate Zielke, and Thomas Pratsch. “Bagrat Bagratuni” in Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Online (2013).
Lilie, Ralph-Johannes, Claudia Ludwig, Beate Zielke, and Thomas Pratsch. “Apoganem” in Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Online (2013).
Lilie, Ralph-Johannes, Claudia Ludwig, Beate Zielke, and Thomas Pratsch. “Grigor I. (von Taron)” in Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Online (2013).
Stone, D C and Charles R Owens. “[Eirene?], First Wife of Emperor Isaakios II Angelos, is a Probable Tornikina and Gateway to Antiquity” in Foundations (Jan. 2011).